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ACTION RESEARCH – method of professional self-development which involves the systematic collection and analysis of data related to practice. Selecting and developing the topic will be dealt under the following headings: 1.Purpose
- Topic (What area are you going to investigate?)
- Focus (What particular aspect of the topic/area do we want to involve?)
- Product (the likely outcome of the research)
- Mode (How are you going to conduct the research?)
- Timing
- Resources
- Refocusing/fine-tuning (rethink questions when you proceed with your research) PURPOSE: We have to be clear about why we are doing this action research How far can you relate the task to your own personal/professional interests TOPIC: you can tackle several related topics, devoting only a short time to each or you can choose one area BOUNDARIES OF DECISION-MAKING: there is sth we can change in our teaching. In action research we choose a certain area and evaluate the results. There is in fact a wide range of teaching quality. These differences are because of personality traits or the degree to which the T flouts the rules. You may not be able to change the syllabus but you can modify it or interpret it in different way The most important factor in selecting a topic is ‘personal involvement’ in the topic: Extrinsic motivation (externally driven) Intrinsic motivation (personal) We should choose a topic which matters to us in terms of our own professional development. FOCUS: interests are more important than importance. Narrowing the focus: make the topic as specific as you can. PRODUCT: what is the intended outcome of the research. RESEARCH MODES: How are you going to conduct the research? TIMING: It will influence the scope of what can you do Professional development – there is no deadline Formal qualifications – deadline How to save time? Planning
Do what you would do anyway Engage Ss Do what is congenial to you RESOURCES: Material (video-recorder, video tape, audio tape, etc.) People (help from certain ppl, e.g. camera operators, secretarial help) REFOCUSING/FINE-TUNING: from time to time you should go back to your initial statements and rethink them.
COMPLEMENTARY APPROACH – extensions, elaborations on what we do anyway (e.g. motivating Ls questionnaires on preferences, likes/dislikes) INTRUSIVE APPROACH – disrupt one’s own natural professional action or disrupt professional or private lives of others. CONCLUSIVE APPROACH – do we want to conclusively prove that sth is the case? ILLUMINATIVE/HEURISTIC APPROACH – when we want to throw some new light on a topic or problem ( illuminative research ) or discover sth new about that topic/problem that we were not aware of before ( heuristic research ). Field-notes, journals, diares, personal accounts and verbal reports (think aloud): private rather than collaborative procedures. They tend to be qualitative or illuminative/heuristic because they reveal people’s attitudes and private thoughts. Observation techniques: involve some form of observation of professional action or of learning processes. This may involve the use of video or audio techniques or checklists/observation schedules. Observation of professional action is done on a collaborative basis, although individual observation of learning processes is quite feasible. Observation of professional action is usually quite intrusive – it requires the presence of someone else in your classroom, observation of learning not need to be – you can do it on your own as you teach. Observation studies can be either quantitative or qualitative. The findings might be illuminative/heuristic or conlusive. Evaluation – very often done in an informal, unstructured way (process of assessing the work or value of sth) Trialling – way of finding way how useful something is by making use of it and observing the results: textbooks, methods and teaching aids can all be trialled (having evaluated sth and found it deficient we try sth else to see if it works better). Interviews & questionnaires – these techniques involve eliciting sth from informants, usually factual info about themselves and their teaching situation or opinions on some issue. Interviews: qualitative, heuristic Questionnaires: quantitative, more easily generate conclusive findings. CASE STUDIES: the systematic investigation of an individual case. Complementary. Results tend to be qualitative and illuminative. It is possible to investigate a number of related case studies. Experiments – trying things out to see if they work experimental/control groups
Cutting corners: planning collaboration try to make action research more complementary, less intrusive, e.g. involve your Ss Ethics: abuse of authority – using up Ss’ time and effort on tasks which don’t contribute in any way to success in their studies confidentiality (act of keeping findings and sources private) plagiarism (act of using someone else’s ideas or writings within acknowledgement and passing them off as your own) Protocols: plain good manners and consideration of others with whom you work.
affective data (= factual info relating to feelings or emotions). They can be written immediately after a teaching event or at the end of the day. The writer can be totally honest and forthright in his comments. -diares cannot be directly shared or made public! -a T may allow a trusted colleague or fellow researcher access to the diary under the rules of confidentiality -there may be a private version of a diary and a public version JOURNALS – shared account of a person’s actions, thoughts and feelings written by the person himself, usually on a daily basis. They can be written to be read as public documents. They should be edited in the process of composition but may lose some of the truthfulness of the diary (but gain in accessibility). Advantages:
- they provide an effective means of identifying variables that are important to individual Ts&Ls
- Serve as a means of generating questions and hypothesis about teaching and learning processes
- Enhance awareness about the way a T teaches and a S learns
- Excellent tool for reflection
- Simple to conduct
- Provide a first-hand account of teaching and learning experiences
- The most natural form of classroom research in that no formal correlations are tested and no outside observer enters the classroom dynamic
- Provide an on-going record of classroom events and T and L reflections
- Enable the researcher to relate classroom events and examine trends emerging from the diaries
- Promote the development of reflective teaching. Analysis collaboration with colleagues PROBLEMS OF DIARY/JOURNAL KEEPING: time factor burdensome and fatiguing psychological factor (having survived the traumas of the teaching battlefield the last thing many of us would wish to do immediately is mentally revisit it) the support of colleague or of a group of colleagues can help motivation focusing only on critical incidents Personal accounts – done in a purely private way but it is more usual to be enhanced by the participation of a discussant who offers help and suggest interpretations. Life histories, story, narrative, biography, autobiography.
VERBAL REPORTS – (słowne) accounts given by individuals of their thought processes, feelings, ideas, etc. Main focus: to afford insight into the process of learning and teaching. Self-report – the process by which we report to others, usually through an interview, how we go about teaching or learning. Responses are highly conscious, considered, well-removed in time. Self-observation – process by which someone monitors or examines his own behavior. Relates to one particular instance or occasion. Can take place during the event or shortly after, otherwise self-observation data may become contaminated, they should be fresh in the memory. Think-aloud – research procedure which involves ppl attempting to express what is actually going through their minds as they attempt some task. The process is usually taped and transcribed. We ask T or S to think aloud while performing a given teaching or learning task. -the most immediate of the 3 verbal reports but may be the most problematic to manage -it is the result of a conscious decision to behave like this during the whole period of investigative task -the most informative How to record data? – audio recording, using a small recorder. Verbal reports (the 7 questions): What? do we want to investigate? Self-report limitless possibilities Self-observation limitless possibilities Think-aloud limited possibilities (not every context enable you to do so) Why? Our purpose determine the kind of data we collect and techniques we will use Who? Who is going to collect the data? T, colleagues, Ss Whom? Whose thinking processes are going to be investigated? When? During or after the event? Not too long after Where? Classroom, work-space, lg laboratory How? There are many techniques interviews, questionnaires, group discussions, to think-aloud those may be recorded and then transcribed (= protocols – can reveal patterns of learning or teaching behviour) or sb can take notes. Problematic aspects of verbal reports (solution: focus on observable behavior and observed by more than 1 observer)
- Reliability – processes are hidden, so how can be checked? If self-reports by different informants were contradictory, how could they be evaluated? 2)Validity – were ppl reporting on the targeted thought processes or were they actually reporting on sth else?
Observation techniques – recording and analyzing classroom skills. Aims of observation: it is not concerned with assessments nor with generasible findings but with exploring of what goes in our classrooms for the benefit of our own development. Who and what is to be observed?
- ourselves as teachers (the techniques we use, voice projection, use of gesture, etc.)
- our Ss (the way they work/interact/respond to our teaching/on-task and off-task behaviour)
- the context in which we teach (the classroom layout, the teaching aids available and how they are used) Who does the observing?
- the teacher concerned (by using audio tape or setting up a video camera)
- we may work with other colleagues to observe one another’s teaching (reciprocal observation), we may benefit from their perceptions and they from ours
- we may be observed by sb else on a non-reciprocal basis
- use our Ss as observers (e.g. they can be given checklists Methods of recording:
- Real time observation: the observation is observed and analysed as the teaching/learning actually happens without using any electronic means of recalling the data (e.g. by marking checklists, taking notes).
- Audio taping: intrusive, after 15 min Ss forget about the presence of tape recorder and interact normally, we can play it back and reflect on it.
- Video taping: the most intrusive but we can use palm corders or hand-held video recorders. Permanent record of classroom layout, movement, facial expression, gestures. All video taping is selective – you can’t capture everything!
- Transcription: easier to locate examples. How can observed data be analysed? Unstructured approach: an impressionistic approach. We note whatever seems to be important or relevant. We do this in the light of our existing personal constructs, ideas and beliefs related to what we are observing.
- flexibility
- straightforward most subjective approach solution: more than 1 observer (triangulation technique) Structured approaches (the observer’s analysis is guided by observation schedule which allows him to collect data often of a more objective kind in a systematic way):
- System based: the observational data are analysed in terms of an existing system of pre- specified categories. Such systems are global in nature and consist of a finite array of categories.
Example: the FIAC system (Flanders: 10 categories to categorise various aspects of T talk and S talk). The classroom interaction is recorded using a pencil and paper technique. The observer watches the class and categorises the interaction being observed at a certain fixed interval on a tally sheet,
- ready-made
- well-known
- flexible cannot be used at real time by the T himself an observer is required specified categories may be of any relevance or interests to what you are researching
- Ad hoc: describe sth that has been devised for a particular purpose, with no claims to generality. The categories derive from a particular problem or research topic. To observe behavior we can focus on on-task behavior and off-task behavior (working at other task, doodling, day dreaming). Approaches to observation: Focus on the T (opening/closing procedures, handling of critical incidents, use of board tally sheet, spatial observation schedule) Focus on the L (group-work observation tape record of the groups; real time observation)
Purpose (Why are you setting up questionnaire?) Handling the data Practical details Anonymity Questionnaire design: Clarity (clear to the informants) Simplicity Closed questions (+ easier and quicker to fill in; + quicker and more reliable scoring of the responses; - longer to devise; - questions have to be very clear) yes/no; scale; range of choices Open questions (+ easy to design, + good for exploratory research; + more unexpected data; - difficulty in scoring) You can combine closed and open elements within the same question. Relevance: do we ask necessary and relevant questions? User-friendliness:
- Not too long
- Not intrusive
- Not confusing or perplexing
- Short and simple questions in mother tongue Commentary: questions, numerical, ranking, verbal, Y/NY, open-ended. Questionnaires allows to:
- Check the actual questions asked
- Directly examine the data
- Come to his/her own conclusions INTERVIEWS Types: Structured Unstructured Semi-structured Structured interviews: high structure, carefully prepared interview schedule like in questionnaire but used orally.
- misunderstanding can be immediately sorted out
- take much longer to implement than questionnaires; no anonymity Unstructured interviews: like conversation; free-wheeling without losing sight of the research purpose; rather relaxed atmosphere Semi-structured interviews: compromise between two extremes (control & freedom); interview schedule is prepared but most of questions will probably be open questions; schedule may involve
prompts; certain degree of control and freedom. The time factor (you must stick to it not over- run). Recording interview data: Simple recall – depending on your memory
- the least satisfactory
- not very reliable – we can forget most facts solution: record your recollection as soon as possible Note-taking – may take a form of filling in questionnaire (in structure).
- in less structured interviews there is conflict between being attentive and reactive listener on the hand and take notes on the other Taping – the richest method in terms of the amount of data available
- should be careful if they function well, if batteries are charged
- some ppl object being taped
- tapes have to be listened or watched again, sometimes transcribed – time-consuming Individual/group interviews (take the form of a kind of discussion) Prior notification of questions (interviewees may be more relaxed if they know what questions they are going to be asked) Conduct of the interview (interview should begin and finish on time, the atmosphere should be friendly and relaxed) Different kinds of focus:
- T interviewing S
- T interviewing T
- T interviewing S We often use questionnaires when we are going for breadth (wanting to get responses from a large number of ppl) and we use interviews when we want to investigate ppl’s views, attitudes etc. in depth.
